Universal Health Care

[chisnpeke]

My cousin's wife is dying from cancer. She has no insurance, no money, and is not a candidate for medicaid. She can't find a doctor who will treat her for free. She also happens to have 2 small children.

So am I for universal medical care? Hell yes.

Where I live if you are indigent and unable to pay the hospital still has an obligation to treat you. That's why insurnace rates are so high already.

If your cousin's wife has no money why isn't she a candidate for medicaid? I thought that is what it's there for? I'm genuinely confused by that. Regardless, there has to be someplace she can go...cancer charities or something that can try and help her. What a horrible situation to be in.

 

[imabrat]

If your cousin's wife has no money why isn't she a candidate for medicaid? I thought that is what it's there for? I'm genuinely confused by that. Regardless, there has to be someplace she can go...cancer charities or something that can try and help her. What a horrible situation to be in.

That's why it's there, but it doesn't work.
One of my moms friends had breast cancer and tried for Medicaid. She "makes too much". I'm not sure how much she brings in a year, but probably not very much. The public assistance programs in our country are very screwed up.

Jenny, has she contacted the ACS? The ACS can and will provide free transportation to treatment. If it's too far away, they will reimburse her travel costs. They did it for us.

 

[disneyworldluvr349]

If she's dying from cancer, as in she's been declared terminally ill, there is no treatment. Maybe if by treatment you mean the morphine for those at the end?

The problem with UC, is God Forbid you find a lump in your breast. You schedule a mammogram, but end up having to wait months for that mammogram because now that healthcare is affordable for everyone, everyone and their mother will get one even if they don't need it. In those few precious months, that lump can grow to be cancer. By the time your mammie is performed, reviewed, and you have a diagnosis, (God Forbid it's cancer) it can be in the very high stages or even terminal.



No, it's not being selfish, and I do not consider myself selfish.
Some people never get treated because there is no treatment. Some people get treated because they can't afford it, which IMO, is a load of bull. I have been up and down this road 20 billion times - there is always some way to pay for chemotherapy! Public assistance, hold fundraisers, oncologists offices frequently give discounts and free sample of medications. Heck, what do you think I did with all my left over medications when I finished chemo? They went straight to my cancer center to give to people who can't afford them.

So yes, I am going to say "I am not waiting forever for my chemotherapy". Call me selfish, call me whatever, but when my cancer is easily cureable, I am not going to wait for chemo.

You know there are people in places that don't have the money or ability to hold a fundraiser and that is not a load of bull. There are also people out there with curable diseases, and they need chemo too, they however don't have the means to get the money, or they are also people who don't have health insurance. I don't know about you but I don't want to be sampling medications.... There are millions of people dying because of poverty (lack of money to pay for health care.)

I think we are all selfish when

we are ill. The time it takes to get treatment can be the difference between life and death for some people. I hate to say that if I were paying for my insurance and had to wait for life saving medical treatment because of the long waiting list due to universal healthcare I'd be pretty peeved.

I just don't know. How can any persons life hold more value than another?

 

[chisnpeke]

You know there are people in places that don't have the money or ability to hold a fundraiser and that is not a load of bull. There are also people out there with curable diseases, and they need chemo too, they however don't have the means to get the money, or they are also people who don't have health insurance. I don't know about you but I don't want to be sampling medications.... There are millions of people dying because of poverty (lack of money to pay for health care.)

I just don't know. How can any persons life hold more value than another?

No one is worth more than another person but the fact is if you have paid for insurance your whole life and others haven't then I'd be upset if I had to wait because people who never paid are getting treatment first, especially if I had a life threatening illness. I guess that makes me selfish and a horrible person but it's how I feel about it.

I won't even comment on the poverty thing.

 

[chisnpeke]

That's why it's there, but it doesn't work.
One of my moms friends had breast cancer and tried for Medicaid. She "makes too much". I'm not sure how much she brings in a year, but probably not very much. The public assistance programs in our country are very screwed up.
Jenny, has she contacted the ACS? The ACS can and will provide free transportation to treatment. If it's too far away, they will reimburse her travel costs. They did it for us.

That's the truth. It seems all you have to do to get public assistance now is have a kid and you're taken care of.

 

[disneyworldluvr349]

No one is worth more than another person but the fact is if you have paid for insurance your whole life and others haven't then I'd be upset if I had to wait because people who never paid are getting treatment first, especially if I had a life threatening illness. I guess that makes me selfish and a horrible person but it's how I feel about it.

I won't even comment on the poverty thing.

Look I am not saying anyone is a bad person we all deserve to be taken care of.

 

[BabyPiglet]

Wow. I know my cancer center has and will. For crap's sake, they have inmates in there too. It's not a childrens place though.
Medicaid is a screwed up program with their entrance requirements and whatnot, but she can't even afford COBRA? Yikes.

What does she have?

I believe it's non-hodgkins.

Where I live if you are indigent and unable to pay the hospital still has an obligation to treat you. That's why insurnace rates are so high already.

If your cousin's wife has no money why isn't she a candidate for medicaid? I thought that is what it's there for? I'm genuinely confused by that. Regardless, there has to be someplace she can go...cancer charities or something that can try and help her. What a horrible situation to be in.

Not here. The hospital can turn anyone away, and the doctor's there won't help her.

Medicaid is so screwed up that you can be poor, but still making too much. The people who really need it don't qualify, and the people who don't need it but want it anyways always do.

 

[imabrat]

You know there are people in places that don't have the money or ability to hold a fundraiser and that is not a load of bull. There are also people out there with curable diseases, and they need chemo too, they however don't have the means to get the money, or they are also people who don't have health insurance. I don't know about you but I don't want to be sampling medications.... There are millions of people dying because of poverty (lack of money to pay for health care.)

I just don't know. How can any persons life hold more value than another?

Like I said, there are other programs out there to acquire what you need. I really can't comment on this post because no matter what I say you probably aren't going to get it.
PS - If you are poor and can't afford meds, you will TAKE the samples. If you don't, there's something wrong.


I'm of the camp "always have health insurance". I would rather have my house foreclosed on than to go without health insurance.

 

[chisnpeke]

I believe it's non-hodgkins.

Not here. The hospital can turn anyone away, and the doctor's there won't help her.

Medicaid is so screwed up that you can be poor, but still making too much. The people who really need it don't qualify, and the people who don't need it but want it anyways always do.

That is exactly what's wrong with the system. It really frustrates me.

 

[disneyworldluvr349]

Like I said, there are other programs out there to acquire what you need. I really can't comment on this post because no matter what I say you probably aren't going to get it.
PS - If you are poor and can't afford meds, you will TAKE the samples. If you don't, there's something wrong.


I'm of the camp "always have health insurance". I would rather have my house foreclosed on than to go without health insurance.

I just think that nobody should be turned away when they are ill.

 

[Axel]

I think that in an ideal society, universal health care is something that should happen.

Unfortunately, we don't live in an ideal society.

Like previous posters have mentioned, it is extraordinarily hard to separate those who are truly in need of healthcare and those who think they are in need of healthcare. My family was raised "tough", I guess. I think the only time I've ever been to an emergency room (for myself) was when I was six and I got an earache and minor ear bleeding. My mom's only ever been for her broken ankle (which she refused to call an ambulance for even though it was clearly broken). The last time my dad was in was when he herniated three discs in his back working. Other than that, we don't go to the hospital. My mom goes for her diabetes (bi-annual check-ups, I think). I go see my doctor once a year to get cleared for athletics at school, but other than that, not at all. This year will be my busiest year doctor's-office wise. I need to get a physical clearing me to attend college, I'm going to the oral surgeon to have my wisdom teeth out (they're causing my last molars to become crooked), and I have to get my eyes reexamined to see if I need a new perscription for my glasses.

It's the people like my accquaintance Jacqui- she's fresh out of high school and pregnant because that way she won't have to pay for anything, she'll get government assistance. That's the only reason she's having this baby.

I guess sometimes it seems to me that if we just cut government aid people would be more motivated to get up and go do something to change their situation. Right now, they know that there's always the option of food stamps and government insurance. I know that there are people out there who truly need these things (like the disabled or those who are unemployed not by choice [ie: laid off and can't find another job that pays well enough to support the family/themselves]).

If somebody could iron out all the kinks- like coming up with a concrete way to determine if somebody deserves aid. For example: Minimum household income must work out to $7500 per person (or some reasonable number. I don't know the minimum cost of living for a person off the top of my head), both parents should be employed and the child (if one) should be enrolled in a public school; if a parent is disabled (on the job), aid should be given to compensate for the lost income but on the condition that the other parent continue to work and the child continue to attend school. But there should be a more concrete way of determining this. Right now, in NH, you can claim unemployment for (I believe) 18 months simply by submitting a resume to some company once a month. One resume is all it takes. I think you should need to more actively pursue any job available-- even if that means spinning pizzas at a pizza parlor-- until a better paying job becomes available. Check-ins should be completely randomized. Right now, they notify you before stopping by to make sure you'll be home. Unfortunately, this also gives you time to hide anthing that says you're abusing the system (like in Jacqui's case a boyfriend who makes $12/hr for 50 hrs/wk).

 

[pigletgirl]

Whenever someone brings up this topic I always say the grass is greener on the other side. It always looks better than what it would actually be. Could you imagine the hospitals?!?!?!